Lineal championship
In professional boxing, the lineal championship of a weight class is a theoretical world championship title. It is initially held at some moment in time by a boxer universally acclaimed as the best in the class. Another boxer can win the lineal championship only by defeating the reigning lineal champion in the ring. The lineal champion is described as "the man who beat the man". There is no single canonical list of lineal champions at any weight class, because there is no agreed method of what to do when the current champion retires or moves to a different weight class. History The concept was developed by boxing fans dissatisfied by the tendency of each of the various sanctioning bodies (WBC, WBA, IBF, etc.) to recognize different champions, and in particular to strip a champion of his title for refusing to fight its top-ranked contender. Prior to the 1970s, this rarely happened; the National Boxing Association (NBA) and the New York State Athletic Commission (NYSAC) sometimes recognized different champions, but there was usually only a short interval before one champion defeated the other. The "lineal championship" is intended as a return to that era. Several top boxers have specified holding the lineal championship as a personal accomplishment (e.g., Mike Tyson & Lennox Lewis ) or goal (e.g., Nate Campbell). Issues An issue in the implementation of a "lineal championship" is what to do if the lineal champion retires, dies, or moves to a different weight class. Different ways of resolving this vacancy mean the "lineal championship" may itself be subject to dispute. In the NBA/NYSAC era, a title vacancy was generally filled by having a box-off between 2, 4, or even more top-ranked contenders. Since the modern lineal championship is merely a notional title tracked by fans, there is no money or organization to arrange such box-offs, and there may not be consensus on who the top contenders are. One example given by Cliff Rold of BoxingScene is the light heavyweight title, considered vacant from the time Michael Spinks went up to heavyweight in 1985 until some time in the 1990s. While Rold considers Virgil Hill's defeat of Henry Maske as the beginning of the next line of succession, as does Cyber Boxing Zone,http://www.cyberboxingzone.com/boxing/lheavy.htm Ring Magazine and HBO trace the title through Roy Jones. Another criticism of the lineal championship is that a fighter may defend it against inferior opponents. For example, George Foreman was considered lineal champion from 1994 till 1997, when Shannon Briggs beat him. After the WBA and IBF stripped him of their titles in 1995, Foreman fought only two, low-ranked opponents before Briggs. The lineal champion is not necessarily the boxer viewed as the best. BoxingScene considered Zsolt Erdei the lineal light heavyweight champion from his 2004 defeat of Julio César González until 2009, when he moved up to cruiserweight; as he had fought only low-caliber opponents in the interim, Cliff Rold conceded, "while the concept of a champion needing to lose a title in the ring is solid, the practice is sometimes highly flawed". Versions The Ring magazine The boxing magazine The Ring has its own lineal championship. The original sequence was from its first publication in the 1920s until its hiatus in 1989, continuing as late as 1992 in some divisions. When it started awarding titles again in 2001, it did not calculate retrospective lineages to fill in the gap years, instead nominating a new champion. CBZ commented in 2004, "The Ring has forfeited its credibility by pulling names out of its ass to name fighters as champions". In 2007, The Ring was acquired by the owners of fight promoter Golden Boy Promotions, which has publicized The Ring's world championship when this is at stake in fights it promotes (such as Joe Calzaghe vs. Roy Jones, Jr. in 2008). Since 2012, to reduce the number of vacant titles, The Ring allows fights between a #1 or #2 contender and a #3, #4, or #5 contender to fill a vacant title. This has prompted further doubts about its credibility. Sports Illustrated used The Ring lineages for galleries of lineal heavyweight and middleweight champions. Cyber Boxing Zone The Cyber Boxing Zone (CBZ) website maintains official lists of lineal champions, with input from Tracy Callis of the International Boxing Research Organization. These were first published in 1994, and are retrospective to the introduction of Queensberry Rules in 1885. The historical lists have sometimes been updated when new information about old fights comes to light. If its lineal champion at one weight class moves to another class, CBZ does not automatically vacate his title. BoxingScene BoxingScene.com disagrees with the lineages given by The Ring and by CBZ, especially in lower weight divisions with a higher rate of champions changing division. BoxingScene has traced its own most recent lineages, generally back to the 1990s. Transnational Boxing Rankings Board The Transnational Boxing Rankings Board (TBRB) was formed in October 2012 as a volunteer initiative to provide boxing with authoritative top-ten rankings, identify the singular world champion of every division by strict reasoning and common sense, and to insist on the sport's reform. Board membership includes fifty respected boxing journalists and record keepers from around the world who are uncompromised by so-called sanctioning bodies and promoters. The board was formed to continue where The Ring "left off" in the aftermath of its purchase by Golden Boy Promotions in 2007 and the following dismissal of the editorial board headed by Nigel Collins. After the new editors announced a controversial new championship policy in May 2012,The Ring updates championship policy three prominent members of the Ring Advisory Panel resigned. These three members (Springs Toledo, Cliff Rold and Tim Starks) became the founding members of the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board, which was formed over the summer of 2012 with the assistance of Stewart Howe of England. The board only awards vacant championships when the two top-ranked fighters in any division meet, and currently recognizes legitimate world champions or "true champions" each weight classes. After The Ring lost its credibility, many boxing historians and boxing analysts viewed the Transnational Boxing Rankings Board as the most complete version of lineal championship and the most authoritative rankings in boxing today. TBRB champions are listed on Cyber Boxing Zone website, which list lineal champions of the Queensberry Era to date. Records * Muhammad Ali is the only three-time lineal heavyweight boxing champion. He beat Sonny Liston in 1964, George Foreman in 1974, and Leon Spinks in 1978. * Peter Aerts is the only five-time lineal heavyweight kickboxing champion. He beat Patrick Smith in 1994, Andy Hug in 1997, Ernesto Hoost in 1998, Andy Hug in 1998, and Semmy Schilt in 2010. *Manny Pacquiao is the first and only fighter in the history of boxing who is credited with lineal championships in five different weight classes (flyweight, featherweight, super featherweight, light welterweight and welterweight) by Cyber Boxing Zone, TBRB and BoxingScene.com. This has been reported by ESPN, CNN Sports Illustrated, The Ring, Yahoo! Sports and many boxing websites. He is also the third fighter in boxing history to win genuine world titles in three of the original eight divisions also known as "Major" or "Glamour Divisions" (flyweight, featherweight, and welterweight), joining the exclusive group of Bob Fitzsimmons and Henry Armstrong. Additionally, Pacquiao has held three Ring titles in three different weight classes (featherweight, super featherweight, and light welterweight). * Fedor Emelianenko, heavyweight mixed martial artist, held the lineal title for longer than any fighter in history. Fedor won the title from Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira in 2003 and defended it 18 times before eventually losing it to Fabricio Werdum in 2010. *On December 1, 2018 Linear Heavyweight Champion Tyson Fury survived two knockdown's to earn a controversial draw in his WBC World Heavyweight Championship fight with then defending champion Deontay Wilder. | Boxing Heavyweight Lineal Champion Tyson Fury And WBC Heavyweight Champion Deontay Wilder Battled To A Controversial Draw | site =dopeclics.com |date=2018-12-1 See also *Undisputed Champion *List of current world boxing champions References Category:Boxing terminology